Mortgage Mis-selling

Our specialist mortgage mis-selling solicitors can assist you with the assessment of your mis-sold mortgage claim and advise you on the best avenue to seek compensation, whether it is via court proceedings, a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, or via the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

A mortgage is a legal agreement by which a bank or building society lends money in order to facilitate the purchase of a property, the money is lent at interest in exchange for taking title of your property. It’s the biggest and most important loan most people will ever have. 

The Financial Conduct Authority regulates mortgage advisors and lenders and sets out a range of detailed rules about the advice that should be given whenever selling a mortgage. Having said that, lenders, financial advisors and brokers do sometimes fail to provide proper advice and guidance during the mortgage selling process, and can consequently be guilty of mis-selling. 

The result of this is usually that individuals involved are left with mortgages that they simply cannot afford to pay.

Circumstances in which a mortgage can be mis-sold

The way in which a mortgage is sold and administered is what can give rise to mis-selling issues and claims. The fundamental questions you should consider are whether you were properly advised about the mortgage product, and whether the advisor complied with the relevant regulatory rules, prior to the mortgage being taken out. 

There are a number of different circumstances in which mortgages can be mis-sold, these are a few of the most common scenarios:

1. Failure to provide adequate advice about the mortgage, in particular the risks associated to the mortgage or a particularly onerous clause
2. Failure to carry out proper affordability and creditworthiness checks to assess your individual circumstances, and/or assess your suitability to the mortgage based on those circumstances
3. Failure to provide the requisite pre-contract information prior to entering into the mortgage.

A few examples of mortgage Mis-selling

1. If specific details of the mortgage were incorrect. For example, a longer term has been selected than you required, or the mortgage was sold as a variable rate loan with interest tracked against a particular base rate and this turned out to be untrue
2. You were advised to borrow money without having to prove your income
3. Your suitability was not properly assessed or advised, which resulted in you taking out a mortgage that was not suitable for you. For example, you may have taken out an interest-only mortgage without proper consideration being given to the repayment of capital
4. You may have been advised to switch lenders, but were not given an adequate explanation about why a switch should be made or told about the fees and penalties that are involved.

Speak to a specialist mortgage mis-selling solicitor 

If you think you have a mis-sold mortgage claim, you should seek independent legal advice as quickly as possible as the statutory deadline for bringing a mis-sold mortgage claim is six years from the date you took the mortgage out.

If you wish to discuss a potential claim or complaint then please get in touch with our specialist Banking and Finance Litigation lawyers, who will be able to offer a free initial discussion and expert advice throughout every step of the process.